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Bum Rush
A ' ' is a tactic that can be employed by players in R.U.S.E. to achieve a quick, decisive victory over his or her opponent(s). The term 'Bum's Rush' itself literally means what it sounds like: 'Bum', in this case, meaning hobo or tramp, and 'Rush' being a sudden, swift action. In essence, 'The poor man's fast-attack'. Engaging a Bum Rush is as simple as amassing a large quantity of cheap, fast-assembling units, and using the mass firepower to engulf and destroy larger, more powerful enemy units before the enemy faction can assemble an appropriate defense. While the technique is effective in some instances, it is not without its shortcomings. Fielding a Rush Conditions *'Intel is Key': Knowing where your enemy's troops are is the first and most important step to a Rush. Conversely, a defender who can recognize a Rush in its infancy has a better chance of mobilizing an appropriate defense. *'Small Map; Large Effect': The less ground your Rush has to cover, the better the result of the Rush will be. The aggressor wants as little chance as possible for his victim to attack his forces ''en route, and any time spent moving is time a defender has to prepare countermeasures. Large maps give the enemy time to counter your Rush. Additionally, rushing against multiple opponents means more than one starting point to monitor while assembling a Rush. *'Know Your Build-Orders': You must be well-versed in the cost and assembly times of the buildings and units you plan to use, to maximize the swift, efficient, and prolific creation of a homogeneous force. This may require trial and error on the part of the Rusher. *'Micro-management': A Bum's Rush may require the aggressor's attention to be in several places at once, keeping an eye on the ebb and flow of resources, his/her mobs of units, especially if the mob's path-finding logic should cause it to break up. *'Use the ruses well': a combination use of fanaticism and blitz on the objective can be the difference between victory and defeat. Advantages *'Simplicity': The most obvious advantage is the simplicity of the attack versus the strain it puts on the defender to counteract. *'Too Many Targets': Most units can only target one opponent at a time, so a Rush offense can easily overwhelm heavier units which, while capable of decimating one or more of your units, cannot kill them all. *'Throw Another Tank on the Fire': Units lost in a Rush are cheap and quickly built, so the attacker can recoup his/her loses much faster than his opponents would. *'Hit 'em Again!': Even when a Rush fails entirely, the attack may have softened the enemy's defenses for a quick second wave, which can come just as suddenly and powerfully as the first. Disadvantages *'Specialization': A proper Rush requires the attacker to dedicate their forces to the tactic entirely, and are severely limited in tactical options. For example, if the defender notices the enemy amassing tanks for a rush, he might assemble a squadron of bombers to exploit the weakness of ground-based units. Or in the case of an Air rush, Anti-Aircraft, and so on and so forth. *'Defenseless': A Rusher devotes most, if not all of their resources to building and replacing rushing units, leaving very little to build a defense of their own if a Rush fails and the enemy turns the tables. *'Blind Leading The Blind': The very nature of a Rush tactic can turn on its player, making their offenses clumsy and ham-fisted, such as when the path-finding of unit groups splits up a rush or, even worse, turns them into a trickle of weak units marching to their death, single-file. Dealing With Rushes Dealing with rushes includes a few main ideas: # Building cheap but effective units in the early stage of the game to counter these attacks. # Building bunkers, if you cannot build the necessary units in time. # Building a combination of AA and artillery and a few recon units. # Building defensive units, such as anti-tank guns, and putting them into a spot that provides a large firing area. Factions and Rushes *U.S.A: Good -- Though their Stuart ultralight tanks are poorly-armed, they are quick and cheap to build, making them a good candidate for a Rush tactic.The Chaffee is a huge improvement, being 4 kilometres per hour faster, having the same gun as a Sherman and armour twice as good as the Stuart, so the Chaffee is recommended for 1945-era rushes. *Germany: Poor -- Germany's war-machine is heavily devoted to quality units, meaning investing more resources and taking longer to build sturdier units. Consider instead a Blitzkrieg-style offense. However, the Panzer III light tank is capable of rushes, as it is moderately fast at 39 mph, and has an effective 50mm gun capable of taking down most light tanks in a one vs one battle. *U.K.: Good -- Britain's paratroopers do not need any research to build. They are ready to deploy as soon as you have an airfield. Make sure to place the C47 planes under radio silence when deploying the paratroopers. *France: Poor -- France is a superb countermeasure to Rush-tactic factions, but this however does not lend them well to a Rush tactic. Rather, France is better suited for the polar opposite of a Rush maneuver: Turtling. Their only light tank is very slow, and their heavier tanks lack any sort of speed as well. *Italy: Excellent -- Almost all of Italy's units are cheaper than equivalents from other factions, and build in barely any time at all. Though their individual firepower ranks amongst the lowest, attacking en masse makes them a devastating force to reckon with. Carro M13 and M15 tanks are excellent to use. *U.S.S.R.: Excellent -- Though not as expensive to build as Germany's units, the Soviet units do take a while to research and manufacture. But their Gvardyia infantry can be spammed in very large amounts, despite to the research cost of $50, able to crush even heavy tanks when this is initiated. These rushes can be deadly when combined with tank destroyers. Soviet T-26 light tanks, although by far not the best, can also be used in overwhelming numbers in early game rushes. *Japan: Good -- Japan has cheap (and therefore not very good) tanks which could be used in a bum rush. The Ha-Go is the cheapest tank in the game, but rather slow, so be sure to build an armor base close to the enemy to create these on-the-spot. See Also Category:Strategies and tactics